Hydraulic power unit.



R. H. BLEVINS.

HYDRAULIC POWER UNIT APPLICATION FILED JUNEZI, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- Swan/whoa ROBERTH- BLEVINS H. H. BLEVINS.

HYDRAULIC POWER UNIT.

APPLICATION man JUNE 21, 1915.

Patented Oct. 24:, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

w m w w Pm E ROBERTH- Y5Lszvms Ink Mum "En-R? cc Puma A rmmmwmumn. Q

R. H.. BLEVINS. HYDRAULIC POWER UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. HHS.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

.Puomuma, WASNINCION. u, c

I if TEN was partner o nion.

ROBERT H. BLEVINS, OF BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TOJAMES A.

DICKEY, OF BRISTOL, TENNESSEE, AND ONE-FOURTH T0 C. I1. T. FISHER, OFWASH- INGTQN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

HYDRAULIC POWER. UNIT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Met. 24, 191 6.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ROBERT H. BLEVINS, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Bristol, in the county of Sullivan and State ofTennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inHydraulic Power Units; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact de scription of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to a hydraulic power unit, and particularly to thattype of unitin which a blade wheel supporting and water guidingstructure is located in the bed of a flowing stream or river, andcarries a plurality of buoyant blade wheels connected in drivingrelation, one with the other, for simultaneous rotary movement by thecurrent of the stream. 1

One object of my invention resides in the provision of novel blade wheelbearing mechanism, which enables the axis of the blade wheel to move inan upward direction to compensate for the rise of the wheels resultingfrom the rise of the surface of the stream or river in which the powerunit is located.

Another object of my invention resides in the provision of a novelarrangement of gates controlling the flow of the stream so as toefliciently operate the wheels, or to out 01f the supply when it isdesired to prevent the wheels from operating, and to stillfurtherdeflect any sand and drift wood so that they do not enter the wheelflume.

Other objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in whichI have illustrated one preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation view of one form ofvhydraulic power unit constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is aplan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a central section view on the line 33of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the bearing mechanism. Fig. 5is a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section on theline6-6 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view showing one of thehydraulic power units located in the bed of a rlver or stream.

The hydraulic power unit, as shown, consists of a wheel supporting andwater guid- 111g structure, comprising the river bed 1 and threevertical parallel walls 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The entire structureis preferably constructed of reinforced concrete. The space between thewalls 2 and 3 is the normal path of flow of the river or stream, and theentire structure is so located in the river or stream that the fall.thereof is utilized. The space between the walls 3 and 4 forms thewheel flume, and the flow of water therethrough is controlled by avertically movable gate 5 running in tracks 6 carried by the walls 3 and4. This gate is connected with a shaft 7 by means of chains 8. The shaft7 carries a crank 9 and a ratchet'wheel l0 engaged by a pawl 11' mountedon the wall 4, to hold the gate in any desired position. It will beevident from this construction that the gate 5 may be raised to admitwater to the flume by turning the crank 9 which winds chains 8 on shaft7 thereby causing the gate to rise. At an obtuse angle to the gate 5,and extending across the river bed 1, is a wall or dam 11, which isequal to the height of the low water level of the river, and serves todivert all of the water through the flume when desired. This wall or dam11 is provided with a vertically sliding sluice gate 12, operated by alever 18 which, when raised, will prevent sand, or other refuse, frompassing into the flume, and will permit it to pass through said gate anddown the natural course of the river. Refuse, such as sand, is furtherprevented from entering the flume by a low sand gate 14, substantiallyat right angles to the gate 12 and controlled by handle lo, which may beset in any desired position by means of the pawl and ratchet mechanism17. The angle between gates 12 and 14 serves to divert the sand andprevent it from passing through the flume, as before stated, where itmight injure the wheel mechanism.

In order to prevent drift Wood and other buoyant refuse from passinginto the flume, a buoyant boom 18 is chained at 19 to wall 2, andextends across the wheel supporting and water guiding structure in frontof the gates, so that all drift wood is deflected thereby and passesdown the river bed 1 and is thereby prevented from injuring the Wheels.

Below the gates, the walls 3 and 4: are provided with three sets ofwheel piers 20, 21 and 22, which carry the buoyant blade wheels. On eachpier is mounted bearing mechanism for supporting the axles of thewheels, and since all of these bearing mechanisms are similar inconstruction, only one of these will be herein described.

This mechanism consists of a horizontal plate 23 embedded in theconcrete of the pier, and provided with a longitudinal dovetailed groove24. In this groove 24 is slidably mounted a base 25 carrying theuprights 26 of arcuate formation, and connected at the bottom by thebase 25, the upper surface of which is inclined on a line parallel witha radial line extending to the center of the next preceding wheel toform a seat for the wheel bearing shoe M, which has formed integraltherewith the bearing stand 28. On the top of the bearing stand 28, is alug 29, and pivotally secured to this lug, as at 30, is a second shoe31. These shoes are formed with bifurcated ends to engage and slide uponuprights 26. Thus when buoyant blade wheels, whose axles are mounted inthe bearing mechanism of that type above described, begin to float andrise, they are guided, in their upward movement, by the arcuate uprights26. The axles 32 of the blade wheels 33 are each connected one with theother by radius rods 34,, which are adjustable, and the arc of theuprights 26 of each bearing mechanism is struck from the center of thenext preceding wheel, the arc of the first upright members beingtakenfrom the center of the shaft 35 carrying pulley 35, to which power istransmitted by the wheels 33 through the medium of interconnectingchains 36 running on sprockets 37 carried by the axles of the wheels.The ratio of the gearing between each wheel 33 is the same so that allof the wheels are simultaneously rotated, but the ratio of gearingbetween the first wheel and the shaft 35 is slightly increased ordecreased as may be deemed best, according to the flow of the river orstream in which the hydraulic power unit herein described is located.The up rights for the wheel, located directly behind the shaft 35 andmoving about the shaft 35 as a center, are stationary, 'so that thedrive from pulley 35 to this wheel will never become slack.

Each buoyant blade wheel 33 comprises an axle 32 upon which is mounted abuoyant drum 38 having two'bands or hoops 39 thereon, into which aretapped spoke supports 40 which are riveted at their ends to the rearsurface of the curved blades 41 set into rings 42. These blades are socurved that in entering into the water they gradually fill up withoutresistance, and in leaving the water are drawn out in a substantiallyvertical plane, and thus all of thetim they are in the water they catchthe full power of the current. Also the bed of the flume is hollowed outat 13 under each wheel, so that the full depth of the water in the flameis utilized and no power is wasted.

While I have hercin described one specific embodiment of my invention,which I have found in actual practice to give good results, it is to beunderstood that desirable modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention as herein set forth.

I claim:

1. A hydraulic power unit including a wheel flume, a plurality ofrotatable blade wheels bodily movable relative to each other tocompensate for varying heights of water, and means spacing said wheelsfrom each other and permitting each wheel to move through an are havingthe axis of the next adjacent wheel as its center.

2. A hydraulic power unit including a wheel flume, a plurality ofrotatable blade wheels bodily movable relative to each other tocompensate for varying heights of water, mechanism interconnecting saidwheels for synchronous rotative movement, and means spacing saidwheelsfrom each other and permitting each wheel to movethrough an arehaving the axis of the next adjacent wheel as its center.

3. The combination in a hydraulic power unit for location in the bed ofa river to utilize the current of the latter, of a wheel supporting andwater guiding structure including a passage located in the normal pathof flow of the river and a wheel fiume, a gate controlling the wateradmitted to said flume, angularly disposed gates in front of said firstmentioned gate and cooperating to prevent refuse from entering saidfiume, and manually operated means for independently controlling each ofsaid gates, substantially as described.

4. The combination in a hydraulic power unit including a plurality ofbuoyant wheels, axles and bearing mechanism therefor comprising arcuateuprights, bearing stands for supporting the axles of said wheels andmovable upwardly in said uprights, said uprights being mounted forlongitudinal movement, and radius rods connecting the wheels with eachother to maintain the same in spaced operative relation, substantiallyas describe Y 5. The combination in a hydraulic power unit including aplurality of buoyant wheels,

and bearing mechanism therefor comprising Operative relation, anddriving mechanism arcuate uprights, bearing stands forsupinterconnecting said Wheels for simultaneous porting the axles ofsaid wheels and movrotary movement, substantially as described. 10 ableupwardly in said uprights, said up- In testimony whereof I have signedthis rights being mounted for longitudinal movespecification. ment,radius rods connecting the wheels with each other to maintain the samein spaced ROBERT H. BLEVINS.

Uopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patentt, Washington, D. C.

